What I love about Ehrlich’s videos is that they are not only representative of his taste in film, but they’re a great rundown and reminder of so many great films each year (and this year was a good one for film) and the great moments therein. He’s also written up his choices and the moments that led him to choose them, which you should also totally read.

Over the last 12 months, the world seemed to be changing faster than ever, and not for the better. At a time when every day felt like a week, and every week felt like a year, watching a movie felt like a dangerous proposition; you had no idea what the world was going to look like when you walked out of the theater two hours later. Even the most immersive films couldn’t always keep that anxiety at bay, these dark thoughts seeping into even darker rooms and transforming these sacred spaces into elaborate Rorschach tests that tricked us into seeing whatever was scaring us most at that particular moment, or whatever might be needed to give us hope. It was a heightened stretch unlike any in recent memory, but the best films ultimately did what the best films always do: They brought the world into focus, showed it from a fresh perspective, and reminded us that we’re not alone.